Florida, Travel

Four Days in Universal Resort: Part II

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Day 3

On our third day we decided to go to the original Universal Studios park. We had been there once before in October of 2021, but there were several parts of the park that we had yet to visit.

Evan and I walked the mile long path from the Loew’s Portofino Resort while Shelley elected to ride the water shuttle. We arrived at nearly the same time. Riding the water shuttle means stopping for several minutes at the Hard Rock Hotel pier, so it isn’t necessarily faster.

Universal Studios

After entering we decided we should eat breakfast and stopped at the Today Cafe. I’m not a fan of the Today Show and while we were waiting in line the show was airing on televisions around the restaurant. I thought to myself “People actually watch this” as we slowly progressed through the line.

Well, despite the badness of the Today Show episode, the breakfast sandwich was pretty decent. We ordered cold brew coffees as well which was missing the vanilla flavor we requested. Not the best, but at least we ate something.

After breakfast we walked over to ride one of the few original rides from the park’s opening: E.T. Adventure. It was a ride we missed in 2021 and we decided to give it a try.

The ride opened in 1990 and it does show its age a bit. It broke down for about ten minutes near the end of our ride, but it was a little bit of nostalgia from back when I was young.

Next we decided to ride another rather old ride: Men in Black: Alien Attack. This ride opened in 2000. I have to admit, it wasn’t even as good a E.T. It was a lame shooting ride that is overdone, and better done elsewhere.

It was Mardi Gras time in the park and as we walked around we were collecting beads from the staff. Soon enough we were up to three bead necklaces and I was looking forward to enjoying some of the many food options that you can buy from food stands around the park during Mardi Gras season.

Diagon Alley

Entering Diagon Alley is like completely leaving Universal Studios and entering a totally different park. You are suddenly in a Harry Potter world.

If you buy a wand there are lots of spots in Diagon Alley where you can interact with hidden spell casting spots to reveal various secrets. Evan and Shelley found a number of these spots in the alley and in Nocturn Alley.

The coolest feature of Diagon Alley is the dragon perched at the top of Gringotts Bank. Every fifteen minutes or so it will breathe fire. And it is hot!

Escape from Gringotts

The biggest and best ride in the park is Escape from Gringotts. We got in line using our Express Lane passes and made our way about 2/3 of the way through before the ride broke down. We waited about 20 minutes (not wanting to have to return and wait in line again) before giving up. The ride ended up broken down for about two hours.

After giving up on Escape from Gringotts, we left Diagon Alley to go to the second most popular ride in the park: The Revenge of the Mummy.

Revenge of the Mummy

Fortunately, the Revenge of the Mummy was working just fine. And it really is a good ride that is debatably better than Escape from Gringotts. It’s a good roller coaster experience in an Egyptian Tomb with everything including pyrotechnic blaze on the ceiling.

Plus, I am a fan of Egyptology and I enjoyed talking about the various gods adorning the walls as we waited in line.

I’m also a fan of Harry Potter, so we were certainly going back there once Escape from Gringotts reopened.

Bourne Stuntacular

After the Mummy ride we went to the Bourne Stuntacular, which we missed in 2021 as well. I actually read the Bourne Identity but only partly watched the movie.

The stunt show is really good and intermingles live stunts on stage with action and scenes on screen. At times the interaction is so seemless it’s hard to tell what is live and what is film. There isn’t much dialogue other than the recorded narration by Julia Stiles (who was in the movie). I don’t see her often in movies.

Minion Cafe

Since the Escape from Gringotts was still closed we decided it was time for lunch. I really wanted to eat the Mardi Gras food from the booths, but Evan (being a huge fan of the Minions from Despicable Me) begged and pestered us to go to Minion Cafe. Fine.

This place has some of the most unspectacular food in the park. It’s a fast food restaurant with a minion theme.

Yeah, the trip was mostly for Evan. We could have just ordered him some food there and then Shelley and I could have gotten the Mardi Gras food I wanted.

After eating some bad Mac n’ Cheese with a few pieces of pork, we returned to Diagon Alley and were able to ride the Escape from Gringotts.

Escape from Gringotts

I rode this with Evan and his older brother in 2021 and for some reason it seemed more exciting back then.

I guess after the ride broke down and after riding many other theme park rides, it seems a little less impressive. Still good, especially with the animatronic goblins in the bank.

After the ride we spent more time using the wands to interact with various spell spots before deciding it was time to start our walk back to the exit. We were getting tired and hot.

We made one stop for beignets and some king cake from a Mardi Gras stand. That was it. We should have had much more.

Anyway, once we exited the park I again elected to walk back and Shelley and Evan decided to ride the boat. I think we tied again on our arrival back at the hotel.

Loew’s Portofino Bay Hotel

By the time we got back to the hotel we were pretty tired. Our room had been cleaned and our beds were made. I really wanted to take a nap. Really needed one too.

I think it’s wise to rest when you are tired. Otherwise you’ll get cranky and all the little aggravations of long lines and crowds and noise will start to get to you. The prior day we ended up taking a four hour nap and ended up waking up with only an hour to spare at Epic Universe.

We didn’t want that to happen again so we just stayed up and rested on the beds watching television, fighting the urge to sleep. Should have just set an alarm and dozed off. But we didn’t and we felt tired the rest of the night.

Epic Universe

Oak and Star Tavern

As on the prior days, each evening we went back to Epic Universe for the evening. We went to the Oak and Star Tavern for BBQ. The barbecue is decent, but not spectacular. I had the pulled pork sandwich.

We also had some beers. Note that using the Universal mobile app limits you to one alcoholic beverage per order, so if you want to order more you’ll need to either go to the bar or make separate orders on more than one phone.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Inside the Ministry of Magic

We were kind of tired and wanted some chill time. So we went into the WWOHP, which is a little like traveling to France for a while.

While our son Evan sought out spots to use his wand, Shelley and I bout some cocktails and found a table to relax. We went to Bar Moonshine and got Lobe Blasters. Really unique and interesting cocktails. And good too!

After Evan finished wizarding with his wand around the WWOHP, we got in line for La Cirque Arcanus. This was the first show we would see in the park.

La Cirque Arcanus

I thought La Cirque Arcanus was really cool. The tent was atmospheric and gave real vibes of a vintage Parisian circus. The show featured magical creatures and their human handlers. The show isn’t long, so don’t expect to spend hours, but rather thirty minutes.

Cafe La Sirene

After the show we stopped for dessert at Cafe La Sirene. We got the butterbeer crepe (called the bieraubeurre crepe in French). Really good! We decided to return the following morning for breakfast.

Isle of Berk

We made one more stop in the Isle of Berk before calling it a night. Shelley and Evan rode Dragon Racer’s Rally. They enjoyed it. I felt good just watching from below after a long day.

Day 4

On our fourth and last day we were going to spend the day in Epic Universe. We’d been there each of the prior days in the evening, but this was the first time e’d be in the park during the day.

Epic Universe

We entered the park after the bus ride and made our way back to the the Harry Potter portal, noticing that with our early access passes we could avoid being among the mass of humanity roped off from the park.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Cafe La Sirene

‘La Sirene’ means mermaid in French. And we noticed the decor in Cafe La Sirene does include mermaids, among other Parisian-themed artwork.

We order quiche lorraine for breakfast, which was a nice change of pace from our typical morning routine. The food was overall quite good but it isn’t terribly cheap either. Expect that when you are in Epic Universe.

The park is comprised of the four “worlds” (The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Dark Universe, Isle of Berk, and Super Nintendo World) you enter through portals (or tunnel-like entrances that separate the park from the themed attractions inside).

The fifth world is Celestial Park which is the central area of the park. The main ride attractions are Stardust Racers (which nearly killed me the first day), and the Constellation Carousel.

The carousel has multiple rotating sections that make it more than a typical carousel. This was also a nice chill ride after some of the more exciting features of the park.

Isle of Berk

Mead Hall

We had a couple of more stops to make in Isle of Berk before we were done for the trip. The first was to visit the Mead Hall. Evan wanted to re-ride Dragon Racer’s Ralley, so Shelley and I took the intervening half hour to enjoy some mead and beer. It’s also a restaurant, but we were just there to enjoy some cold, drinks.

We also took turns seated as the Viking chieftain.

When Evan was done racing we went over to see the second show of our trip.

The Untrainable Dragon

This was a good show as well with some good actors who sound just like the characters and dragon props. Make sure you get in line early because they do reach capacity and we were just barely able to make it in before they closed off the show.

If you are wondering, it is about an untrainable dragon that eats all the main characters like Hiccup and Astrid. Well, not exactly.

Pizza Moon

One restaurant we were pretty intent on visiting was Pizza Moon. Once we saw how the restaurant was themed we made it a priority stop on the trip for lunch. And we weren’t alone, this place gets a long line that runs out the door.

We already understood the meaning of the logo with the pizza in the eye of the moon, but just in case you don’t, here’s the explanation. In 1902 a French filmmaker (when filmmaking was in its infancy) named Georges Méliès made a short film called “A Trip to the Moon”.

In the movie a group board a rocket (without space suits) and they land on the moon. Of course the moon isn’t just a celestial body, but it is a living being with a face too. And the poor moon gets hit right in the eye.

Scene from “A Trip to the Moon”

The clever people at Universal decided to swap the rocket for a slice of pizza.

The interior is full of whimsical characters swinging back and forth as they make pizza sauce under a starlit night sky.

The pizza is also really good and not at all typical. We got the ‘Pizza Lunare’ (pictured above) and ‘a Trip to Vesuvio’.

This is one restaurant you’ll want to make sure to visit.

After lunch we decided to make our way back to the hotel. Evan was starting to feel ill and we were ready to get some rest after four days in the parks. Despite his condition he insisted on riding Stardust Racers one last time and came off looking like he he’d been through something traumatic.

Loew’s Portofino Bay

We returned to the hotel and Evan crawled into bed. He looked like he was feeling quite ill by now and he had a slight fever. Exhaustion coupled with crowds had gotten to him.

Shelley and I decided to let him rest and we went to one of the hotel pools, the one hardly anyone knows about. Tucked away on a hillside is the third pool in the resort.

When we got there only one other person was was there, but they left after a while leaving just Shelley and I at the pool. While in the pool Shelley noticed a small box turtle had fallen into the pool and was trapped.

We rescued it by taking it far away from the pool and human traffic and closer to the lakeshore where it is hopefully living contentedly right now.

After retrning to the room we saw that Evan was still feeling too sick for us to consider leaving the resort. We got takeout from a resort eatery called Sal’s. The chicken parmesan sandwiches were huge. Sal’s is a ittle pricey too though.

Final Thoughts

With that our trip was pretty much at an end, which was fine. Fortunately Evan felt better the next morning and our flight home was uneventful. He did seem to have chills though right as we landed back home in Denver.

This trip was close to two years in planning and despite some frustrations with traffic on arrival in Florida and crowds that were larger and a bit annoying at times, it went well. Evan got to ride everything he wanted, we visited all the parks and got to see pretty much all of Epic Universe.

We would have benefited from more down time though. When we went to Universal in Oct 2021 we took a whole week and it was nice to take a couple days to rest and decompress. It’s also nice to have some more pool time and to enjoy the resort as well.

Because we chose to go when Evan was not on spring or fall break, we were really time-limited. We didn’t want him to miss more than a couple days of school and thus we were never going beyond five days.

While it was fun to go to Universal, our next visit to Florida will almost certainly be to a new region along the Gulf Coast. We also have a future cruise in the planning stages that will probably depart from Florida. We do like Florida (especially the warm, humid weather) and it never seems too much time passes before we are back again.

Florida, Travel

Four Days At Universal Resort: Part I

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We made a trip back to Florida this February of 2026 to spend four days at the Universal Orlando Resort. The new Epic Universe park opened in May 2025 and we wanted to experience this newest theme park, as well as revisit Islands of Adventure and the original Universal Studios park, two theme parks we enjoyed on a visit in October of 2021.

We started planning this trip even before Epic Universe opened, with the time between our initial decision to go and our actual arrival being close to two years in total. We planned to wait until the year following the park opening before making the trip, when there would hopefully be a decrease in the crowds at the park’s inauguration, and to give the new rides and attractions some time to be seasoned enough to have the kinks worked out.

Since our youngest son is in middle school we had to figure out a time that would work with his school schedule. Obviously spring break in March was an option, as was the summer. But he also has a short break in February right before and including President’s Day weekend. And this seemed like a good time to travel to Florida when the tourist season wasn’t yet in full swing.

So we committed ourselves to this trip all the way back in 2024. And nine months after the opening of Epic Universe, we were there at last to see it for ourselves.

We initially booked a room in the new Helios Grand Hotel before the hotel was even open. Once the hotel was finished, and we saw the initial photos and videos of the hotel, we decided to cancel our reservation. We just weren’t wowed by what we saw, even if we had booked it at a rate that was significantly less than it wold be when the park finally opened. Instead we chose another Universal resort hotel: The Loews Portofino Bay.

We were able to book the Portofino at a discount as well, and it offered free Express Pass tickets, a perk not offered by the Helios Grand for some reason. Also, the Portofino Bay is in walking distance of two of the resorts (Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios), as well as the Universal City Walk. And finally, the Portofino actually seemed to have more amenities and it would be in a quieter location, giving us an evening respite from the parks.

We had five total days available for the trip, and decided to use the first day to visit Blue Spring State Park just north of Orlando (see the prior blog post). After enjoying the state park and manatees we drove back south to Orlando to the Universal resort.

Along the way we stopped at Ford’s Garage restaurant in Sanford. That was a pretty cool experience (it looks like they are located all over Florida).

Day 1

Loew’s Portofino Bay

We made our way to the hotel in our Avis rental car, knowing that the hotel has an Avis rental car location right in the hotel. The weird thing, however, is there is absolutely no signage to tell you where to go. After pulling up the valet parking, they told us to enter the self-parking garage and drive all the way to the bottom.

After doing so we found some marked Avis spots and parked the car, then lugged our luggage up to the hotel. If you are using valet parking they provide assistance, but if you self-park or arrive in a rental car, you are on your own.

Anyway, we got to the front desk and checked in, and finally got some help with our luggage to our room. Most places will let you borrow a luggage cart, but at this hotel they are very particular about only allowing their staff to use the carts.

After getting to our room we unpacked and got ready to take the bus over to Epic Universe. We had park hopper tickets for four days, so we could come and go between the parks as we pleased. We also had reservations at the Blue Dragon restaurant at 5:30, so with it being 3:00 PM we would have a couple hours in the park before dinner time.

Epic Universe

After a quick bus trip from the hotel to Epic Universe (which is disconnected from the other parks) we arrived and made our way through the security and into the park.

I’m honestly not a thrill seeker and I am prone to motion sickness. But my youngest son pestered and prodded me into riding the Stardust Racers roller coaster right after we entered the park.

I have been on roller coasters before but this one made me feel really awful. Like my insides were shaken loose from their normal positions. When the coaster rolled to a stop I waddled out, vowing to never ride it again.

Following this traumatizing experience, feeling motion sick and dizzy, we made our way over to the Dark Universe world.

Dark Universe

We got in line for Monsters Unchained. I really wanted to enjoy this ride more but I was paranoid about getting motion sick and puking following the Stardust Racers and my last experience on a ride that had a similar apparatus at Islands of Adventure (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey). But this ride didn’t have screens which helped a lot.

It was pretty cool even though about 2/3 of the way through it momentarily stopped.

After the ride there wasn’t enough time for a ride line so we went to the Burning Blade Tavern to have some mead, ale and a stake-shaped breadstick. Pretty cool seeing the windmill ignite too.

Windmill of the Burning Blade Tavern

After eating it was time to mosey over to the Blue Dragon for dinner.

Blue Dragon Pan-Asian Restaurant

It felt good to sit down in the Blue Dragon to fully recover from Stardust Racers and because the interior is impressively decorated with dragons wrapping around the walls and Asian artwork throughout.

The restaurant is expensive ($30 per plate dishes) and they don’t hide that fact. The overall meals was good, but not as good as we were really hoping for. We had to send back the Orange Chicken because it came out lukewarm (clearly had been sitting before being brought out).

The dishes are served family style so you’ll want to order a variety of entrees and share them. The beef and broccoli and passion fruit moon cake were our favorites.

Super Nintendo World

After dinner we went to Super Nintendo World and entered Bowser’s Challenge. It is a virtual reality ride where you shoot guns to score points.

Next we rode Yoshi’s Adventure which was pretty slow and chill. My son Evan found Yoshi’s Adventure to be a terrifying experience. I could barely fit in the car but it’s all good.

Evan and I bought power up bands which allowed us to play an interactive game by hitting punch blocks and doing game challenges in Super Nintendo World.

There is a phone app that keeps score as you go through Super Ninendo World and Evan and I did our best to collect all the points that we could from the punch blocks.

After a long day that extended all the way to 10:00 PM at night, we were ready to go to bed and rode the bus back to the Portofino Hotel.

Day 2

On our second day at the Universal parks we left the hotel before eating breakfast and walked the mile path from the hotel to Islands of Adventure. Since we had Express Pass and were staying in a resort hotel we had early access to the park.

Islands of Adventure

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

We made our way over to Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure since this is one of the most popular rides in any of the parks and we knew the line would be much longer later in the day. With Express Pass at the park opening we were able to get onto the ride in about 45 minutes.

Waiting in line at Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure

Hagrid’s Motorbike is probably the most creative rollercoaster I’ve ever been on. You ride in motorcycle seats and the ride goes forward, backward, drops, and moves pretty fast without being ridiculous.

Since the line wasn’t too long, we went ahead and rode the Flight of the Hippogriff too. It was much more oriented toward the youngest visitors and I felt a bit cramped in my seat.

After the ride we made our way over to the Three Broomsticks for breakfast.

The Three Broomsticks

We were actually pretty cold despite being in Florida. The prior week Florida had experienced a severe cold snap that brought temperatures down to the 30s Fahrenheit. On our visit the temperature would eventually reach 70 F, but in the morning it was just above 5 and the interior of the restaurant was chilly.

So along with our breakfast platters (I got the English Breakfast) we all ordered hot butter beers and they hit the spot. Also, I really didn’t know what to expect from the English Breakfast (there was no blood pudding) but I quite liked it.

Jurassic Park

We are fans of Jurassic Park (well at least the first movie and the first Jurassic World). I read the book when I was a teenager before I saw the movie.

We first made our way to the Discovery Center which looks just like the central pavilion from the first movie. There’s a restaurant upstairs, but on the first level there’s some interactive features (such as one that shows what you would look like as a dinosaur). Evan tried it and it was frightening.

We stopped at the gift shop and since it was a bit chilly got some sweatshirts. We looked for some new ‘Mr. DNA’ shirts but couldn’t find any. The staff knew what we were talking about and said there weren’t any left.

After buying our sweatshirts we did the pictured raptor encounter. When we said we were from Colorado someone else in line cheered for us.

Mythos Restaurant

It may seem like it wasn’t very long from our breakfast to having lunch, but we had made reservations in advance for 12:30 and we did our best to not eat too much breakfast so as to be sufficiently ready to eat at lunchtime.

And Mythos was reputed to be the best theme park restaurant in the world. Who would skip that?

Mythos has a cool interior, but the food was really meh for the price. We had the ground lamb hummus and I ordered a lamb burger. Really meh. Even a couple cocktails weren’t enough to change my mind.

After eating Evan and I saw some turtles in the waterway outside the restaurant. These are Florida soft-shell turtles. We saw the same species of turtles at Merritt Island in 2023.

With our stomach’s full, Evan and Shelley decided it was time for the Velocicoaster. Because I was shaken up by Stardust Racers the prior day I elected to skip it. I really didn’t want to puke on this trip like I did in 2021.

I walked around the park in one full circuit while they waited in line to ride. By the time I returned to the Jurassic Park Discovery Center to chill out (it was now getting hot and I had to take off my sweatshirt), they were done.

We left the park to head back to the hotel. I walked the path while they rode the water taxi. I got back first.

We made a stop at the gelateria at the Portofino Hotel. Good stuff, gelato it.

After reentering the room we all dozed off for four hours. Not intentionally. It just happened that way. By the time we were all awake it was 7PM and Epic Universe would only be open until 9:00 PM. We also hadn’t eaten any dinner.

We went anyway.

Epic Universe

We got right into the park after the bus ride and went straight to the Isle of Berk for our dinner. We made a quick order at the Spit Fyre Grill. I got the salmon and Shelley and Evan got Mac n’ Cheese cones. Both were really good.

Shelley checked the ride times and the Battle of the Ministry in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter had a 15 minute wait. That ride is typically in the hours. We made a beeline over there.

The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter

Entering this ‘world’ is like traveling to France. It’s shocking how realistic it is. We flew through what would have been a considerable queue space to the Battle of the Ministry and onto the ride.

I have to be honest. The architectural theming here is the show. The ride itself isn’t that great. You should ride it just because you won’t otherwise see just how much work went into recreating the Ministry of Magic. But would I wait hours to ride this ride?

I’m glad we only needed 15 minutes.

After this brief foray into the Hotter Potter world we returned to the Isle of Berk.

Isle of Berk

The Isle of Berk is really impressive at night. We also really enjoy How to Train Your Dragon.

The park will allow all riders in line after closing time to finish riding and thus even though the park closes at 9PM, you can stay until 10PM. We got int the line for Dragon Racers Rally at 8:55 PM and were able to get on this pretty cool roller coast about an hour later.

Another aspect of the parks is the gift shops will stay open past closing time, so we were able to get some much needed loot before leaving the park.

At close to 10:00 we dashed off to the bus (some others were running toward the bus and Evan and I just had to show how much faster we were).

Returning to the hotel we were ready to call it a night with another big day planned for tomorrow.

Florida, Travel, Wildlife

Blue Spring State Park

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No animal is more beloved in Florida than the manatee. These gentle giants inhabit coastal inlets across the state, but actually seeing them can be challenging.

There are places in Florida, however, where manatees can be seen with relative frequency. Florida’s inland freshwater springs are a favorite winter refuge for manatees, who travel upriver from the coast to escape cold seawater. Once within the narrow confines of these springs, the manatees are easy to view, often totaling into the hundreds over a short stretch of water.

One of the best and most famous locations to see wintering manatees is Blue Spring State Park. Just a short drive from Orlando, this is a great side trip while in central Florida.

Our Visit

Since we were traveling to Orlando in February we decided it would be a good opportunity to visit the state park, and booked a cabin to have a place to spend the night.  Staying in one of the cabins would allow us to enjoy the park before the crowds of manatee enthusiasts would arrive shortly after opening.

Cabin 1 at Blue Spring State Park

While the cabin looks unassuming from the outside, these cabins are quite spacious and offer a lot of amenities as you can see in the video I made. 

Booking a cabin in the park is not easy due to their popularity, but since we knew we would be coming over a year in advance, I was able to book one as soon as it became available online.

We were very happy with our decision to sleep in the park.

We ended up arriving after dark and thus experiencing the park would have to wait until the next day. After getting our beds made we called it a night. We had a busy day in store for tomorrow.

Exploring the Park

Early the following morning I was excited to get out and explore the park and visit the spring before the crowds would arrive.

I got my camera and GoPro and walked the short path to the spring. Along the way I encountered a group of white-tailed deer, largely unconcerned by my presence.

Once at the boardwalk that runs alongside the spring, I found a crystal clear waterway teeming with manatees, as well as numerous fish like longnose gar and tarpon, and even an alligator.

Interestingly, alligators avoid manatees and the one that was in the spring seemed eager to swim away from the manatees. Manatees have no real natural predators in Florida.

Florida Manatee at Blue Spring State Park

We were planning on kayaking in the neighboring St. John’s River where manatees can also be seen (as well as the rest of the Florida wildlife). The park offers canoe and kayak rentals.

Unfortunately, in my haste to make reservations I selected the wrong date and we were out of luck. There was a silver lining, however.

Rescued Manatees

At the time we were supposed to be on the river, a couple rescued manatees were to be released into the spring. The manatees were trucked in by Sea World and we watched as they were carefully unloaded from the trucks, were given a quick health check, had radio tracking devices attached, and were carried down to the spring.

The manatee release was a big local event with news stations and local politicians in attendance. It was a cool opportunity to see how these animals were given a new chance to survive in the wild.

When the manatee release ended we walked one more time up the boardwalk to visit the canteen for coffee and to stop by the souvenir shop. It was a cool, misty February morning in Florida.

Final Thoughts

Blue Spring is a terrific respite from the busy world just outside the park and a great place to see the natural side of Florida. While we couldn’t enter the water, in the summer months Blue Spring is a great place to swim and paddle as well.

It was a good visit for us and I look forward to visiting more of Florida’s many natural springs.

Holidays

Happy New Year

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2026 is less the four hours away (where I live). I’m at home enjoying the evening with my family and committing myself to stay up until midnight. It’s really unusual for me to stay up that late and I’ve made myself a coffee to help get through the next several hours (while watching some football).

2025 was a bit of a slog in the latter months. But there were also some cool moments over the course of the year. I can look back at moments like seeing endless numbers of wildlife together with my wife and son in Yellowstone, evening neighborhood walks with my family, making the bucket list hike to Lake Solitude in Grand Teton, learning martial arts over the summer with my youngest son, hiking with my eldest son in Rocky Mountain, finishing some challenging paintings, and enjoying my 50th birthday with my family in Hawaii.

Many of us make new years resolutions. I just call them goals. I want to make some cool artwork. I want to cross a few more places and experiences off my bucket list, I want to read more books. I want to make some home improvements. I want to experiment with and build some electronics. I want to continue spending time with my family and helping my kids achieve their goals.

Let’s have a great 2026!

Hawaii, Photography, Wildlife

Wildlife of Hawaii

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The Wildlife of Hawaii page has been updated with new photos from our most recent trip. I may have missed out on a terrific moment for a photograph when a monk seal swam past on the beach, but the green sea turtles, nene geese, spinner dolphins, and more made up for it. Check out the gallery!

Wildlife of Hawaii
Hawaii, Oahu, Travel

Eight Days in Hawaii: Kauai and Oahu: Part VII

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It was the last day of our trip. And it was also my 50th birthday. I had thought about this day for weeks and what it would mean to me, but ultimately I was just glad to be on vacation with my family. I was happy that everyone was enjoying themselves and everything had gone well on the trip.

Pondering this morning a several weeks before, I had decided that it would be cool to take a pre-sunrise hike at Diamond Head peak and to see the sunrise from the summit that morning. In preparation for this I woke up at 3:30 AM a month beforehand, to get parking reservations at Diamond Head State Park as soon as they were reservable at 4AM MT (or midnight Hawaii time). I had done this in Estes Park, CO the same day my son Daniel and I were going to do the Sky Pond hike in Rocky Mountain National Park.

You can’t just park at Diamond Head on a whim, thus I made sure we had parking reservations. You can walk (or run) into the park, however, and our hotel was about as close as you can get to the iconic peak that has been photographed and painted thousands of times as a backdrop to Waikiki Beach. If we had not been able to get parking reservations, we certainly would have pursued this option.

I had entrance reservations for all four of us, but on the morning of my birthday, only Shelley and I were up and out of bed on time to drive over in time for the sunrise. We had been up late the night before and we didn’t have time to wait for the boys to get up and dressed, or to coax anyone along on the trail. Shelley and I decided to let them sleep, and exited to drive over to the park.

Diamond Head State Park

We drove around and saw dozens of people jogging around the perimeter of Diamond Head, and I admit, at that moment I felt a tad lazy. I enjoy running too and in Honolulu it seemed to be a very popular activity.

But we would be ascending a steep slope and had to do so quickly. Had we walked or ran over, we would have needed an leave at least an hour earlier. And time was of the essence. On that particular day sunrise would happen at 6:29 AM and we had entered just after 6:00AM. We had just under a half hour to make it to the summit of the steep, crowded one mile trail to see it happen.

I told Shelley we’d be ok, even if we didn’t make it on time. It was just good to be there together. At this point on the trip I had only a pair of close-toed sandals left, having thrown away a pair of mud-wrecked, worn out running shoes, with my hiking shoes finally dry from being soaked in the surf at Ke’e Beach, but still and covered in fine particles of sand that I doubted would ever come off.

But I was good with wearing my sandals to the summit. They lacked cushioning and I felt the rough terrain through the soles, but I still had the willpower to hike and even run in them.

We hiked together for about 10 minutes before Shelley told me to just go ahead and try to make it to the top as fast as I could. She would meet me there.

The trail is only partly a trail. It’s also a series of steep concrete stairways and tunnels that eventually lead to the summit of the volcanic peak. And it was crowded. I jogged my way up as best as I could and got there just after the first rays of the sun crested the surface of the eastern horizon over the ocean.

There was hardly any room to even stand once I had ascended to this loftiest of concrete platforms on the unattractive summit of a mountain that had been carved into a World War II bunker. Everyone wanted to stand upon the summit and after taking a couple photos over the ocean, I walked back down a little way to meet Shelley so that we could enjoy the views together.

We wound our way up through the crowd, ignoring the rude people that are inevitably among any large number of people, and returned to the highest level to enjoy the views together. We looked out over Honolulu, the hotel below where our sons were sleeping, at a lighthouse on the coast, and into the distance to the east where more Hawaiian islands lay hidden beyond a thin layer of clouds.

We carefully climbed back down while others pushed their way up and turned the corner to enter the uppermost World War II bunker. A narrow gap led into a pocket in the summit that led to a spiral staircase in the rear, that led down to the stairway and tunnels below.

Diamond Head was a truly carved up mountain, but a reminder that in the 1940s war had gripped this paradisiacal island chain. Fear of an invasion necessitated turning this mountain into a pillbox for gunners ready to fire on enemy troops.

We slowly made our way back out of the battery (careful not to hit our heads on the way in or out) and followed the herd as it descended from the summit. We were far from the only people that had come for the sunrise, but it was also likely that as the day progressed, the temperatures would rise to uncomfortable levels in the park. So who didn’t want to be there first thing in the morning?

It took a while, but as the trail leveled out we finally found ourselves with a moment of isolation on the trail again. A rainbow appeared over the ridge, something we had seen many times on the trip, but which was a nice close to the hike. At the parking area we stopped at a gift shop and I picked up a key chain for the collection my son Daniel had started as a child, but which he abandoned for us to continue in his stead.

Honolulu

We both wanted a coffee before we returned to the hotel, so we decided to drive over to a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf a few miles away. Shelley and I used to live in California where we frequented Coffee Beans. After we moved to Colorado they became only a memory since even when we visited California we weren’t in areas where we found them. But they were in Honolulu and it was nice to partake in something from our past life.

After getting some coffee, we decided to go over to the donut shop nearby called Purvé Donuts.

The owner was very friendly and we told him it was my birthday. He made a birthday donut for me with a candle. The donuts were unique flavors and really good. We bought a box to take back with us for the kids to enjoy.

After a nice start to the day, Shelley and I drove back to the hotel with the donuts in hand to wake up Daniel and Evan and spend some time at the beach before our noon checkout.

Waikiki

We were in no hurry to checkout and wanted to spend at least an hour at Waikiki Beach while we still could. Daniel and Evan were still more interested in sleeping than enjoying the beach, so Shelley and I changed into our swim suits and took our snorkel gear and my GoPro to the sand outside the hotel.

It was fun and relaxing to get into the water here. The sand was soft and the water was fairly warm. Every time I go to a beach I want to look under the surface (if the ocean is warm enough to swim in) so it just made sense to bring our snorkel gear.

Once we found a reef nearby we found a lot of fish and even a sea cucumber (photo above on the left side covered in sand).

At 11AM we knew we needed to return to the hotel to shower and change and checkout. Fortunately the hotel was willing to hold our luggage for us for the day while we did some site-seeing, and they let us use the courtesy bicycles to take a ride down the beachfront to where there were more restaurants.

We rode the bikes on the wide sidewalk along Kapiolani Park, eventually leading to the busier areas in the main hotel zone. A police officer told us we needed to use the street bicycle lane. I was weary of Evan riding in the street since he seemed to be wobbling his handle bar a lot, but whatever.

We parked and locked up the bikes and entered an open air mall area. There was a Chinese restaurant called Kirin. That sounded good.

Kirin Restaurant

It was good. Some of the best Chinese food we’ve had in a while. We ended up ordering an extra dish after going through it quickly. One thing about living in Colorado is we don’t have very good Chinese food. They have it in Hawaii though.

After eating we returned to the bicycles and rode back to the hotel to return the bicycles and get the car. We still had some time to burn and Shelley and I needed to dry off our swim suits before packing them up for the flight home.

We got to the car and I suggested going to a historic spot on the island. The place where King Kamehameha won the decisive battle that unified the islands for the first time in the 1700s.

Nu’uanu Pali Lookout

When Kamehameha the Great led his warriors in the invasion of Oahu, he pushed the natives of the island up a valley where they faced a steep cliff (or pali). At Nu’uanu Pali Lookout, Kamehameha’s warriors pushed the opposing forces to their deaths.

The views from the top are majestic, though often cloudy, windy and rainy. Shortly after we exited the car to take photos rain began to fall and we retreated back to the shelter of the car.

With still more time available to us, we decided to go find some malasadas and stop off for some cough drops for Evan, who had developed a nagging hoarse cough along the way.

Heeia

We followed Google Maps to a Leonard’s Bakery location at a mall in Heeia on the windward side to the east of Nu’uanu Pali Lookout. There was a Target there as well for us to stop at afterward to get some cough drops.

Leonard’s Bakery

While we had encountered mostly very friendly people on the trip, the guy at the Leonard’s Food Truck wasn’t among them. He ignored us at first and we almost walked away without ordering.

Malasadas are actually a Portuguese dessert that are popular in Hawaii. Leonard’s Bakeries are the most famous purveyor of these desserts. I didn’t realize until the trip that the Portuguese had a significant history on the island and malasadas are a part of that legacy.

After eating a malasada and shopping at Target, we STILL had more time to burn. So I found another quick, historic site to stop at. This time a heiau.

Ulupu Heiau

When Shelley and I went to the Big Island in 2003, we stopped by a pretty cool heiau near Kona. That heiau was significant in the rise of Kamehameha who grew up on the Big Island before leading a war on conquest.

With that in mind, I decided that it would be cool to see a heiau on Oahu before we departed Hawaii.

So what is a heiau? Well it’s sort of a Hawaiian temple made from stones stacked up into a structure, like a flat-topped pyramid.

The Ulupu Heiau was near where we were so I put the directions into Google Maps and off we went. My swim trunks were also still soaked wih only an hour left before we needed to be back at the hotel, so I hung them out the window to dry in the open air as we drove.

We arrived at the heiau which was situated behind a school building. It was somewhat confusing and not well marked.

Shelley and I walked down to observe the huge swath of volcanic rock that was the foundation of the structure. There wasn’t much there to see or do beyond see the foundation so we returned to the car, now ready to make our way back to the hotel to retrieve our luggage and head off to the airport.

Airport and Flight Home

We had some United lounge passes and at the Honolulu airport we were able to use them before they expired a couple weeks later. It was good to have an effectively free bite to eat and some beer before the flight home. We receive yearly passes with our United Explorer card.

The flight home was uncomfortable despite having extra-legroom seats. The 777 lacked the entertainment options we had available to us on the flight out. It was also freezing cold and we had to ask a flight attendant for a second super thin blanket. She also raised the cabin temperature a little.

It was an overnight flight and sleeping was virtually impossible. Oh well. You do the best you can.

Once we were back in Denver we were still dressed for the beach despite being back in the Front Range. I shuffled through our luggage for some warmer clothes after baggage claim to make the drive back a bit more pleasant.

Final Thoughts

We were all tired upon our return, but we had a really good time overall. I don’t know when we will return to Hawaii but Shelley and I are already discussing a trip for just the two of us.

I was glad to have my whole family together for one last vacation to celebrate my 50th birthday. Daniel is in college and will be pursuing his own ambitions and Evan will be a teenager soon too. We have enjoyed almost 20 years as a family together traveling to places all over the US and beyond. I’m proud of all we have done together and I hope the kids will have fond memories to look back upon.

Hawaii is a fun place. Expensive, but fun. Well be back again. And it won’t take decades to do it.

Hawaii, Oahu, Travel

Eight Days in Hawaii: Kauai and Oahu: Part VI

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On our seventh day in Hawaii, we had a activity-filled day planned and had to be up and ready to go fairly early. While it would have been nice to get up a little later in the morning for a change, we also didn’t want to miss out on some of the activities in our itinerary by procrastinating. But we did get a good night’s sleep in the Lotus Hotel.

Koa Pancake House

We hadn’t had a sit down breakfast thus far on the trip, and since we were now staying in a hotel, this seemed the perfect time. After a brief discussion we settled on the Koa Pancake House, located in the same Hawaii Kai area where we had had dinner the night before.

We didn’t want to spend a fortune on breakfast and wanted something less touristy than what was available in Waikiki. Somewhere the locals would eat breakfast. And we found that.

We had macadamia nut pancakes along with bacon, sausage, and eggs. The serving sizes were plenty big too. They also had some guava and other tropical juices, which are a necessity in Hawaii.

With our stomachs full we set off on the less direct route to our destinations, driving along the eastern shore to take in the views of the coastline.

As we passed the turnoff for Hanauma Bay, I felt my sole moment of true disappointment on the trip. You have to make reservations to go to Hanauma Bay two days in advance and the bay is closed on Monday and Tuesday. Unfortunately, despite having time in the schedule the following day to go, it was unfortunately a Monday. So we would be missing out on what I had heard was one of the very best snorkeling spots in all of Hawaii.

Snorkeling had been a bit underwhelming thus far, though in Hawaii it can be outstanding. We’d just had some bad luck thus far.

But we still had beach time on the trip. Just not right now. We were on our way to a little bit of Japan tucked away in Oahu.

Byodo-In Temple

Once we made the decision to extend our trip a couple days on Oahu, we started researching places to go and things to do. And one of those places that we found that intrigued us was Byodo-In Temple.

The drive to the temple took us along the northeastern shore until we came to a westward turn inland that led to a cemetery. I didn’t know beforehand that the temple was located in a cemetery, and as we sought out a parking spot along the side of the road, it was a bit jarring to see the throngs of tour buses arriving and departing at the same time to a place that should be a place of quiet reflection.

Regardless of the location of the temple, the choice of outfits and behaviors of some of the tour guests were outright disrespectful. A Japanese Temple is not the beach. And the tour bus guests had little concern for behaving in a dignified manner.

Regardless, the fact that the temple has vendors selling souvenirs is also a bit weird too. Not something you expect at a religious site in a cemetery.

Anyway, the temple itself is very cool and the aura of the surroundings seems idyllic.

We each took a turn ringing the sacred bell (having to ensure that the tour groups didn’t shove past us in line) and then walked into the temple and each lit an incense prayer offering. It was very cool to see the Buddha statue inside the temple covered in gold leaf.

We walked through to the opposite end, enjoying the colorful koi in the surrounding pond and admired the temple structure and surroundings. My youngest son, Evan, takes a class in Japanese martial arts and he enjoyed this opportunity to experience some Japanese culture.

After a half hour we proceeded onward to our next stop, debating whether we should get something to eat before we spent several hours on our UTV tour. We decided we were fine without and could just get a snack once we arrived at Kualoa Ranch.

Kualoa Ranch

Kualoa Ranch is a huge ranch on Oahu in the rainier northeast of Oahu. It’s a place of majestic green mountains sculpted into steep cliffs and long verdant valleys. It’s also Hollywood’s favorite place to film movies set in tropical locations.

Kualoa Ranch has been used as the filming location for scenes in Jurassic Park and World (along with Kauai), Kong: Skull Island, Jumanji, George of the Jungle, and dozens more. It’s far more expensive and difficult to film in places like Costa Rica, Colombia, and Africa, so Hollywood builds sets at Kualoa Ranch, and those sets remain in place for visitors to enjoy.

We had wanted to do an ATV or UTV tour for a while as long as we got to do the driving. We found the Raptor UTV tour at Kualoa Ranch and decided that would be a great way to spend the afternoon.

Our tour guide’s name was easy to remember since her name is the same as one of our pet dogs: Sydney. She was energetic and she took our photos at several stops along the way.

As you can see from the photos we had a lot of fun at the Jurassic Park and World sets. When we were finalizing our trip plans we realized that with us going to Kauai and seeing the valley on the Na Pali Coast where the helicopter entered Isla Nublar, and going to Kualoa Ranch we were experiencing a Jurassic Park vacation of sorts.

With Halloween coming soon after we dressed up as characters in the movies and our dogs were dinosaurs. I dressed as Alan Grant and Shelley dressed as Ellie Sattler from Jurassic Park, and Evan dressed as Owen Grady from Jurassic World.

At Kualoa Ranch we saw the valley and the tree that Alan Grant and the kids escaped from the gallimimus herd, and several spots from the Jurassic World movies including the Indominus Rex paddock.

There were some great overlook spots on the tour as well, with impressive coastal views over Kane’ohe Bay. The island you see in the photos above is called the ‘Chinaman’s Hat’ or its Hawaiian name of ‘Mokoli’i’. The name Mokoli’i refers to the island being part of the tail of a huge lizard that was killed by a Hawaiian goddess.

After finishing our UTV ride, we cleaned ourselves of dust at the wash stations at the ranch and made a stop at the gift shop. Then it was time for more shave ice.

Kane’ohe Bay

The coastline near Kualoa Ranch is a reef protected area known as Kane’ohe Bay. If we had had more time it would have been a great place for a beach visit (there is a sand bar that you can even swim or kayak to in the bay).

But instead we had time only to enjoy the views and get more shave ice. This time from a food truck operation called Coconut Girl and Guys.

The shave ice was great here too and the people running it were really friendly.

After our cool, refreshing desert, we needed to head back to the Lotus Hotel in Waikiki to get cleaned up for our dinner reservations at 5PM.

Waikiki

It took about an hour to drive back from Kane’ohe Bay to our hotel at Waikiki Beach near Diamond Head. We took the more direct route over the center of the island instead of following the coast this time.

Tonight we were going to celebrate my 50th birthday with a dinner at Duke’s Canoe Club on Waikiki. It was about a mile walk (and run) from the hotel, but the Waikiki sidewalks were much more relaxed on Sunday than it had been the day before.

Duke’s Canoe Club

Since we were having my birthday dinner we spent a bit more and Shelley and I enjoyed all the tropical cocktails we wanted. We ordered some good appetizers and Shelley and I also bought the fresh leis they were selling at the restaurant.

I ordered ahi tuna and had a free birthday dessert with a candle brought to the table. When sunset came we gathered as a family for a photo in front of the beach. The final bill was a number higher than I usually spend. But you only turn 50 once.

On the way back we stopped for some souvenir cookies at Honolulu Cookie and enjoyed the statues and banyan tree on the path back to the hotel.

Tomorrow would be our final day in Hawaii with an evening flight home. Tomorrow would also be my official 50th birthday. My plan was to wake up early to enjoy the sunrise from a famous spot on Oahu.

Hawaii, Oahu, Travel

Eight Days in Hawaii: Kauai and Oahu: Part V

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When we were first making plans for this trip, we were thinking that we would only be visiting Kauai. As time went on, however, we started to think more about a visit to Oahu as well.

We already had a connecting flight in Honolulu and we had a day with no real commitments on the last day of the trip. So why not make that connecting flight earlier and spend a day visiting Pearl Harbor before our flight home? My wife and sons had never been there, and I was there only once, when I was 13. I had also never visited the museums there (we were on a tour that took us only to the Arizona Memorial).

Then as we started to do more research on Oahu, we found there were many additional activities that looked fun and exciting. We could go UTV riding at a ranch used in many movies including Jurassic Park. We could visit a Japanese Temple. There were many beautiful beaches and hikes and historic sites that we could visit on Oahu as well.

So after some thought, we decided to extend the trip two additional nights, giving us three days on Oahu. My son Evan would miss a couple days of school, and I would be celebrating my birthday IN Hawaii, instead of the day after we returned home. But in the end I think the trip plans seemed that much more complete.

To facilitate the change in plans, I used Southwest Airlines points that I had available to book an early morning flight for us. We had to get up early and drive down from Princeville to Lihue, drop off the car, and check in at the tiny airport. Arriving as always two hours early, we were the first ones there for our flight. Hmmm. Maybe we did have an extra hour to burn. Oh well.

I told my family that this would be the shortest flight I have ever taken at just over 100 miles, and it certainly was quick. The plane’s ascent was immediately followed by its descent. It was a 40 minute flight that didn’t even seem that long.

Though we were sad to leave Kauai (and I know we will be back again), the sense of being in Hawaii was still there, even if we were now in the most populous region of the state. The open air walkways carried a warm, tropical breeze and it felt good to know we still had a few more days to enjoy before traveling home for work and school.

While my wife and kids collected our suitcases at baggage claim, I went to pick up our rental car. This time it was a Mazda CX-5. A vehicle model we used to own and hopefully the luggage space would be better than the Chevy Malibu we had rented in Kauai. It turned out to be just as cramped. We had overpacked and that would not happen next time.

Oh well, at least we were here, had all of our stuff, and were on time to drive over to Pearl Harbor which is only a short distance from the airport.

Pearl Harbor

We are history buffs and Pearl Harbor is a place where history changed dramatically in a matter of hours.

I remember back in AP US History class in high school having a discussion about the strategic reasons for Japan’s attack on our naval base at Pearl Harbor. Japan was already engaged with China and Korea. The Japanese objectives were creating an Asian empire. Why attack the US, a nation that had the power to defeat it?

Because they knew that war with the US was inevitable. The US had control of the Philippines and the Japanese empire could not advance on Southeast Asia without confronting both the US and the British Empire. The attack on Pearl Harbor was an all or nothing campaign, the Japanese Rubicon. The day after Pearl Harbor they would invade Hong Kong as well.

The attack on Pearl Harbor had to not only succeed, it had to completely cripple the US Navy and knock us out of the war before we had a chance to fight. And it was one of the most audacious and perfectly executed military attacks in history. They succeeded in catching our navy completely off-guard. The mission was a total success.

But the primary objective had failed. They sunk a few battleships, destroyed many smaller ships and wiped out much of our air force at Hickam Field. But the US still held Hawaii, and was now determined to fight.

As my teacher said, the only way the attack really succeeds is if they invade Hawaii and push the US back to the coast of California, something they didn’t have the manpower to achieve because they were already spread thin across the Asian front. So the war would be difficult and costly on both sides, but the end result was already predetermined: Japan would lose the war.

USS Arizona Memorial

The first stop for most visitors is the USS Arizona Memorial which sits above the sunken battleship Arizona. The shape of the structure is designed such that the center roof is lower to mark the defeat at Pearl Harbor, with the ends rising skyward to represent ultimate victory in the war.

It was our first stop at Pearl Harbor as well. Almost 1200 US Navy sailors were killed right at this spot and its only when you see the wall with all of the names that this number really hits you. One bomb that hit at just the right spot caused a massive explosion that sunk this mighty ship and took the lives of over a thousand on board who weren’t even expecting to fight a war that morning.

I had visited the memorial when I was 13 and it was good to take my kids there as well. The Arizona will slowly rust away as time goes on, but for now we can still look at the hull of the ship underwater and appreciate that it is a grave for those service members. It is sad to know that the last survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack have now all passed (for years you could still encounter them at Pearl Harbor) but at least this memorial keeps their memory alive for subsequent generations to appreciate.

We were also lucky that we could even visit the site, since it is part of the US National Park Service and we were visiting during a government shutdown. Luckily there are enough donors who care enough to support the site’s operation that is was open during the shutdown. We also donated at the museum to help keep the park open for more visitors regardless of what happens in Washington.

After viewing the memorial for the allotted 15 minutes, we returned to the ferry boat to return to the naval base. We still had a lot more to see and do at Pearl Harbor.

Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum

When I was a kid our visit to Pearl Harbor was on a tour that left out so much of what you can see and do at Pearl Harbor. The Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum is among the best museums you can visit to really learn about submarine warfare.

The museum is comprised of the main museum building and the USS Bowfin submarine. The building has a large interior exhibit space that covers submarine warfare starting in World War II, then the Cold War, and into the present and future. We spent over an hour just on this section of the museum and learned a great deal more than I would have ever expected.

By the time we exited the museum building it was after noon and we were hungry. We still had the USS Bowfin to explore, as well as the other museums (USS Missouri and the Aviation Museum).

We stopped at the outdoor eatery next to the museum and took a moment to eat and rest. Even outside the museum there was a huge torpedo, artillery, a submarine scope and more and we spent some time viewing each and posing by them for photos. Afterward we walked a gangway to the USS Bowfin submarine.

The Bowfin was in shockingly good condition. The brass components are polished to a shine I would expect from a brass musical instrument. The Bowfin was commissioned during World War II and sunk over 40 Japanese ships. It was finally retired in the 1970s before being converted to a museum attraction in the 1980s.

We explored the lower deck and over the water line. There was a Navy veteran onboard that we spoke to briefly. I asked about the voice tubes that I had seen on the German U Boat U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Similar voice tubes weren’t used on this submarine, mostly due to it being built later and being more modern.

After exploring the deck we stopped at the souvenir shop and I added a shot glass to my collection. We also posed for a family photo that was printed on a replica historic newspaper dated to Dec. 7, 1941 which we bought for $20.

Now it was time to take the shuttle bus to Ford Island. There was two more museums to visit.

USS Missouri

Battleship warfare largely ended with World War II, as aircraft carriers and submarines made them obsolete. But the battleship Missouri took decades to fully retire, even seeing service in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

You can’t fully appreciate the size of the artillery guns on a battleship until you see them up close. They are truly massive. The round conical structures you see protruding above the waterline at the Arizona Memorial are the artillery mounts.

The USS Missouri has several decks to explore and we managed to get separated several times amid the labyrinthine decks. We found the spot where a kamikaze pilot crashed into the ship and where he was given a burial at sea. We found the spot where the Japanese formally surrendered to the Allied forces and the documents of surrender.

It was interesting to see the living quarters as well. They were actually pretty large and spacious. There was a recreation room area that seemed like it would be a nice place to relax. It was effectively a floating headquarters at sea, on a ship that saw significant action in four wars.

At Pearl Harbor you can visit the ship where the US entered World War II and the ship where the war formally ended.

Before we returned to the bus, we were hot and tired and a dessert stop was available to us at the wharf where the Missouri was docked. We enjoyed some Dole whip and shave ice to cool down. It was hot out.

Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum

Our last stop was the Aviation Museum. We were starting to tire and we were hot, but we wanted to see this final museum of the day.

I wanted to see the Japanese zero airplane and it was among the first planes on exhibit as we entered. These were some of the best fighter aircraft of World War II and were technologically superior to Allied aircraft at the start of the war. It didn’t take long for the Allies to catch up and build even faster, more maneuverable aircraft, however.

The aircraft here are not only historical, but had individual histories as well. You see aircraft that were recovered from fields, swamps, and in various states of reconstruction. There was the wreckage of a Japanese plane that crashed on Nihau Island and the accompanying story of the pilot is told there too.

A B-17 bomber that lie in a swamp in Papua New Guinea and was recovered in 2013 is on display. You can see a Flying Tigers aircraft and dozens of Cold War jets just outside the hanger.

After a long day at Pearl Harbor, we boarded the shuttle bus back from Ford Island. My eldest son Daniel felt rushed, but to try to see every exhibit would be a matter of days, not hours. We needed to head to our hotel, unpack, and have dinner.

Waikiki

Driving from Pearl Harbor to our hotel we got to see the city of Honolulu from the freeway for really the first time. I may have been there at 13 years old, but really had no significant memories of the place.

The condominium towers and houses of Honolulu really make it look very different than cities in mainland America. Hawaii in many ways is a gateway to Asia, and this is obvious in the architecture and culture. We intend to visit Asia for the first time in a few years, and are just deciding where to visit first.

We took some time deciding on where to stay on Oahu. It seems like 90% of the hotels are concentrated in the Waikiki Beach area, with some scattered on the north and western shore. We considered staying on the north shore away from the busier Waikiki area, but eventually settled on the compromise of being at Waikiki at the quieter end near Diamond Head. It was a great choice.

The Lotus Honolulu at Waikiki

Hotels in Hawaii aren’t inexpensive and staying at a reasonably nice hotel on Waikiki, even in the offseason like October, will still cost $400-$500 a night plus parking and resort fees. Or more.

On Kauai we stayed in vacation rentals and could buy groceries to mitigate meal costs, but now that we were on Oahu and in a hotel, we would be eating out for every meal. But our hotel was right by the beach below Diamond Head peak, both of which we could see from our balcony.

After unpacking and taking a moment to clean up after a hot sweaty day, we considered our options for dinner. Waikiki is always a busy area, but on that particular Saturday there had been a lot more craziness due to two events that happened the same day (which I won’t get into).

Still parking was limited at the hotel and I was concerned that if we left our parking spot we might not have a place to park when we returned in the evening. Therefore I we decided to just try walking down the beach to one of the restaurants along the beachfront.

Well, the craziness was too much. Too crowded, too insane. After entering one crowded restaurant we made up our mind to drive to an area away from Waikiki for dinner. We had walked a mile from the hotel and so, to save time, I ran back to the hotel to get the car while Shelley and Evan waited. Daniel had decided to stay at the hotel and we’d get takeout for him wherever we ended up going.

I got to the hotel and drove the car past Kapiolani Park and hit gridlock traffic exiting the beach. Yikes. I met up with them after fifteen slow minutes and we set off for Kona Brewing down the road in the Hawaii Kai district.

Kona Brewing Company

Kona Brewing turned out to be just what we wanted. Totally chill environment right by the waterfront. Really nice waitress bringing us nice cold beers and delicious food. We started off sitting outside, but the wind picked up and we moved to a warmer spot inside.

As we were leaving we picked up some souvenir beer glasses from the restaurant store. It had been a busy and tiring day, but Kona Brewing capped the evening off well. Now we could head back to the hotel for the night before another activity filled day tomorrow.

Hawaii, Kauai, Travel

Eight Days in Hawaii: Kauai and Oahu: Part IV

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If there was one bucket list objective that I had for our visit to Kauai, it was to hike the Kalalau Trail. I first read about the trail when I was planning to go in 2003, and in all the years since it had remained a future, unaccomplished ambition.

Once we decided that we would be going this year, I built a specific day into the itinerary for the hike. I wanted to give us enough time to hike a full eight mile roundtrip to Hanakapiai Falls, and so I planned for us to start in the morning with the rest of the day left open.

The Haena Park Shuttle

As a word of warning to anyone hoping to do this hike, or even enter Haena State Park to enjoy Ke’e Beach, Lamahai Beach, or Tunnels Beach: you can’t just drive in without a reservation. In fact, you are very unlikely to be able to drive in and park at all.

Due to visitation limits, parking in Haena Sate Park (where the Kalalau Trail begins) must be reserved in advance at this site. And by that I mean within the first couple minutes that the reservations open up 30 days in advance, at midnight Hawaii time. If you don’t get a parking reservation, you can still get a timed reservation for the shuttle that takes you to Ke’e Beach and stops along the way.

The shuttle reservations don’t sell out nearly as fast and you can choose between a parking area in Hanalei or the resort area in Princeville for the pickup location. But specific times (preferably in the morning) sell out quickly and so you still need to reserve as soon as the reservations are available: 30 days in advance at midnight Hawaii time.

Since that meant 4AM in my local mountain time, I set an alarm for 3:30 in the morning, 30 days before the day of our hike, made myself a coffee and made reservations for the shuttle for the four of us.

There is one additional benefit to the shuttle. If you reserve parking you are limited to 4 hours. In theory you could make two reservations for a total of eight hours, but if you reserve the shuttle you have basically the entire day as there are no time limits on your stay as long as you return on a shuttle. The last shuttle back is 6:40 PM.

On the day of our hike (our last full day in Kauai) I woke early and set about getting our gear together with ponchos for everyone and snorkel gear in my backpack as well for a post hike swim at the beach. Whatever we needed (sunscreen, mosquito repellant, lots of water, etc) I stuffed in the backpacks knowing we had a long day ahead

Overnight it poured rain and I had a bit of concern that the trail would be closed on the very day we were to hike. It isn’t unusual. Flash flooding is a common occurrence in Haena State Park and along the streams that cross the Kalalau Trail. Thus far we had been lucky to have had great weather during the trip, but mother nature had not looked promising that morning.

I kept checking the Haena State Park conditions page and was relieved to see that the park remained open as the first shuttles of the morning were to be leaving for the park. The park was indeed open for the day. Our shuttle time was 8:20AM. A quick bite to eat and we were in the rental car on our way to the Waipa Shuttle Park and Ride.

We arrived at the parking area and grabbed our backpacks. We checked in with the attendant and boarded the shuttle van, sure now that we would indeed be hiking that day, no matter the rainy weather overnight and into the morning.

It wasn’t until the shuttle left the lot that I fully understood just why the shuttles were really necessary. A few years ago an entire portion of the road washed away in a huge rain storm and the road was still being slowly rebuilt. The road itself is windy and the parking options at the end of the road are limited. If everyone just drove in and parked along the side of the road it would be a congested parking nightmare.

So yes, there is the overhead of making reservations, and if you aren’t on the ball with your planning you could miss out. But in the end the experience is better for everyone.

Haena State Park

Once you arrive at Haena State Park you are given an orientation talk. Almost everyone is headed for the Kalalau Trail, but due to the challenging terrain along the way and the various dangers that have led to the trail being labeled one of the most dangerous in the US, the park staff has apparently decided that they should give visitors a full understanding of what lies ahead.

About two months before we arrived in Kauai, we talked to a nurse that had done the same hike and raved about it. And she told us about a woman that had slipped on some rocks near Hanakapiai Falls and died. Her body was still there when she arrived at the falls, waiting to be transported out. Still she said we should absolutely do it. Just with a high degree of caution.

The primary dangers that await hikers on the trail are flash flood risks and falls on the wet, muddy terrain. There are sections of the trail, beyond Hanakapiai Beach (where most hikers turn around or divert to Hanakapiai Falls) that are on a narrow precipice above the ocean. A fall from the cliffs is certain death.

Likewise, just before Hanakaiai Beach is a stream crossing that routinely floods. When it does flood, if you are on the wrong side of the stream you must wait until it has returned to its normal calm flow before crossing. If you don’t, you’ll be swept away, probably out to sea.

And at Hanakapiai Beach, you don’t risk swimming. The attendants make sure you understand this is a very dangerous beach with rip tides that kill people every year.

So yeah, the Kalalau Trail is beautiful, but its got a reputation as well.

The Kalalau Trail

When you first exit the shuttle stop, we traversed a boardwalk past some taro fields. It’s rather picturesque and interesting to see the fields which hearken back to past centuries when it was grown in a similar manner by the native Hawaiians.

Once past the fields, we entered an area of rainforest that ends at the entryway to Ke’e Beach. I had heard the bathroom there was nightmarishly smelly online and by someone we talked to, but it was actually very clean.

After our quick bathroom stop, it was time to hit the trail. The first several hundred feet are a bit of a steep ascent, but being regular mountain hikers, it was pretty easy for us. What is different is the the humidity and the coastal views. Both were impressive.

Because of the rain, the trail was muddy. But the the traction was much better than what we encountered at Waimea Canyon. I always enjoy walking through rain forests, even if I end up getting rained on because it is such a unique environment and I love the mistiness of such a humid environment.

We hiked at times together and at times we ended up separated. My eldest son Daniel likes to hike fast and really wanted to get to the waterfall, while my wife and youngest son were a bit behind. I ended up in the middle, trying to catch up to Daniel who I finally met at the river crossing just before Hanakapiai Beach.

He told me the crossing was easier than it looked. The hop between rocks was as he said not as slippery as it appeared. We crossed and walked down to the beach, while a light rain fell.

After spending a moment at the beach, we returned to the trail where we debated continuing onward to the falls while the rain steadily increased. Shelley and Evan were still behind and I didn’t want them to be unaware of our continued progress, especially if they decided against crossing the river. I also wanted to make sure everyone was ok, since slips and falls are a common issue.

We waited for several minutes as the rain picked up and another concern hit me. Would the stream become impassable on our way back from the falls? In the end I told Daniel that we would need to start back and leave the falls for another day in the future. Reluctantly, unhappily, he agreed. He’s like me. We hate not finishing our journey.

On the hike back the rainfall came to an end and we saw the brilliant blues of the ocean from the other perspective. We even saw a rainbow over the ocean water created by mist and the spray of the waves. Eventually we met up with Evan and Shelley, who had already decided to turn back and were near the last downhill section before Ke’e Beach.

Once back to the trailhead, I took a moment to visit Ke’e Beach. There would be no snorkeling today as the surf was very rough. In fact the surf was so strong that it caught me unaware and my hiking boots got soaked. I trudged back to the trailhead and washed them off at a shower, questioning whether I should replace them soon after I returned home.

After cleaning ourselves up, we walked back to the shuttle stop. Just as we walked beneath the covered waiting area, a huge downpour ensued. It was enough for me to think that we might well have had issues crossing the river if we had gone to the falls. In all likelihood, we would have been fine, but it was a rather voluminous downpour.

Hanalei

We drove back to Hanalei after the hike to find some lunch. We decided upon Mexican food and found a good, and fairly inexpensive (for Hanalei) restaurant in the town, called Federico’s. We got some burritos and ate a good, filling post-hike lunch. Afterward my son and I took a photo by some wooden tiki statues.

From Hanalei we could see waterfalls cascading down the sheer mountain cliffs in the distance, fed by the ongoing rains far above.

While we weren’t immediately hungry, we decided to go ahead and get some takeout barbecue from across the street at Chicken in a Barrel. This would save us from having to leave the townhome later when it was dinner time. That barbecue dinner was quite good too.

I thought about taking a drive over to the Kilaeua Lighthouse just east of Princeville, but we ended up just relaxing the rest of the day at the townhome. Since we had a flight early the next morning to Oahu, and we had never really taken a moment to unwind, it was necessary.

Thus ended our time in Kauai. But we weren’t going home. We would be traveling to Oahu to experience more of Hawaii.

Travel and the Creative Arts